Video jargon can quickly get complicated, and can seem even worse to stills photographers who’ve learned a whole lexicon of photography concepts and terms and now have to do the same with the very different world of video. But the video basics are comparatively simple and easily learned, and the rest can follow from that. […]
Aspect ratio
This the picture's proportions as width versus height. DSLR sensors have a 3:2 ratio, so that photographs are 3 units wide to 2 units high. Most compact camera sensors have a slightly squarer 4:3 aspect ratio. It doesn't matter what the units are – the ratio stays the same, so a photo could measure 3 inches by 2 inches or 6 meters by 4 meters and still have the same 3:2 aspect ratio. You can shoot in different aspect ratios by cropping the sensor area. HD video is shot in a wider 16:9 ratio.
Aspect ratios and why you need to know about them
The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. The larger the ratio, the ‘wider’ the image; the smaller the ratio, the ‘squarer’ the image. Digital camera sensors have their own ‘native’ aspect ratio, and this is generally tied in to the sensor size. The small 1/2.3-inch sensors or […]
Sensor basics
There’s probably more talk about sensors in digital photography than anything else, so here’s a run-down on sensor basics and everything you need to know to make sense of the jargon. First of all, sensors are made using two types of chip technology. They’re often used in sensor descriptions so it makes sense to mention […]
Sensor size and why it matters
In the days of film, it was well understood that the bigger the negative, the better the quality of the picture. The same is true with digital cameras, only here the ‘negative’ is the sensor. The larger the sensor size, the better (generally) the picture quality. Megapixels do confuse the issue somewhat because you can […]